State Politicians Duke It Out Over Education Funding

HARRISBURG – State Democrat and Republican politicians, hoping to score points with voters in this year’s contentious race for governor, battled Monday (July 28, 2014) at the Capitol over whether incumbent Gov. Tom Corbett cut $1 billion from education funding under his first budget … or not.

The problem, according to reporter Andrew Staub of The Pennsylvania Independent online news service, is that each side defines what happened with the 2011-2012 state budget’s education money in different ways.

“Sorting out the truth over education funding isn’t exactly a cut-and-dried process,” Staub wrote Tuesday (July 29). “The inclusion of pension costs in some funding figures, and the federal stimulus funding that pumped up education spending for two years before expiring has distorted the picture.”

The allegation that Corbett slashed money from schools has dogged him for most of his first term, Staub noted. The debate was heightened last week when an organization aligned with Democrats began running television commercials taking the governor to task.

That brought out the Republican response: Lt. Gov. Jim Cawley characterized the advertisement as a “damned lie,” and came to a press conference armed with statistics showing how state financial support for schools has steadily grown over several years.

Behind the squabbling, Franklin and Marshall College pollster G. Terry Madonna told Staub, is the fact that voters say education funding is their primary concern as the November elections approach. Corbett’s Democrat opponent, Tom Wolf, has been hammering away at the theme for months.

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One Response

M. R. Birkos7 months ago

Mr. Cawley is losing his grip. Last week, he chastised Democrats for their lack of support and blamed them for not crashing the Republican’s legislative policy meetings – from which they have been totally banned by the Republican majority – since Mr. Corbett took office.

Yesterday – Mr. Cawley blames the school districts for staff and program cuts, when they had a billion dollars less to spend. Stunning lack of accountability.

The truth is – that billion could have easily been replaced for the schools, as there was a billion dollar surplus from Governor Rendell’s 2010 budget. Instead, Mr. Corbett opted to fully implement his capital and franchise tax cuts for businesses.

School districts in surrounding states pay 35% of their bills. In Pa, they have to cough up 53%. Very tough on 75% of the districts, as they look at the 4th year in a row of staff and program cuts.

And no – you cannot count the $782 million in back payments to teacher’s pensions as classroom funding.

Delete the $782 million Mr. Corbett has not done well in in education. PA job creation dropped from 7th to 49th. Credit rating tanked to lowest in the nation. Aside from the gas companies and other beneficiaries of the tax roll-backs – exactly who has he done well for?

Not the tax payer. Not people with kids in school. Or folks looking for a job. Or help with health insurance. Or teachers and other school district employees. Or the other 20,000 state workers who lost their jobs, above and beyond the 20,000 teachers laid off. These are among the reasons why Mr. Corbett has been in the poll’s toilet for the last three years, as the most unpopular governor in state history.